TIPS ON ACCURIZING THE MINI-14, Part Five

[masterPsmith]

TRIGGER GROUP:
A trigger job on it's own will not make your rifle more accurate. It will, however, make it easyer to shoot more accurately. A light, glassy smooth consistant trigger pull will help you keep your sights on target from the time you put your finger on the trigger until the time it goes bang. I usually don't recemend someone do their own trigger work unless they are experienced and know what they are doing and why it is done. There are too many mistakes to be made and can result in a very dangerous firearm when not done properly. So with that, use your own good judgement. If in doubt, have a gunsmith do the work. Depending on the gunsmith and the quality of his/her work, a trigger job will vary anywhere between $65 and $150. Shop around and check their work. There is nothing worst or more dangerous than a botched trigger job.

The Mini-14 trigger is a two stage, military type trigger. Most of them from the factory have a heavy, gritty take-up and a not so crisp break. The average pull from the factory is around 6 pounds. Not very conducive to accurate shooting, but it makes the factory attorneys happy...
Our goal here is to get the pull weight to around 3 to 3 1/2 pounds, with a glassy smooth take-up and a crisp, consistant break. This will be done by stoning and polishing the sear surfaces and doing no spring work.
If you have a Dremmel, DON'T even think about. DO NOT use a polishing wheel. Using these will round off the right angles of the sear noses. You don't want these to be distorted or rounded in any way. They must be sharp for a crisp, consistant break. You will need some good small stones or a good stoning steel (small,flat,precision ground piece of steel used with very fine wet/dry paper or fine grit paste for stoning). You will also need some sort of devise or jig to hold your work for stoning. Don't try to stone sear surfaces freehand.
If you use a stoning steel, I recemend that you use 240 grit wet/dry with oil to remove any imperfections, machine marks and burrs. On my final polish, I use either 1200 or 2000 grit wet/dry paper with oil. Make sure you stone at flat right angles to keep the surfaces flat. DO NOT change the angles of the sear engagement surfaces. Polish the rounded hammer nose in the same manner. If you take your time and be carefull, you will end up with a very nice, match grade trigger. DO NOT shorten the sear engagement surfaces for a shorter take-up or first stage pull. I have seen few customer guns double or go full auto by them making this mistake.

The following list is for the photos that I will post in the same order. I will not go into all the dissasembly and re-assembly, as you should already know this if you are to attempt your own trigger job. On re-assembly, I use a very fine moly based paste to lube the sear engagement surfaces.

1 Trigger group.
2 Remove hammer strut and spring.
3 Remove trigger.
4 Remove secondary sear.
5 Shows areas to polish on primary and secondary sears.
6 Shows primary and secondary sear engagement surfaces to be
polished on the hammer nose.
7-8 Shows how the sear engagement surfaced on the hammer nose
should look when done.
9 Shows how the trigger primary sear should look when done.
10 Shows how the secondary sear should look when done.
11-12 Shows the polished areas of the primary and secondary
sears where the hammer nose makes contact.

[masterPsmith]

Continuation of photos............................

[masterPsmith]

Continuation of photos...........

[masterPsmith]

Bump. Still needs to be a STICKY............

[doctherock]

I do believe I will pass on the DIY. Looks like it will be worth the money to have a pro do it for me. Good info though

[Californiagunner]

masterPsmith: Excellent pictures ! I have the tools and skill to do this. Can you post the amounts and angles sanded and stoned on these parts ?

Thanks, Wayne

[masterPsmith]

Originally Posted by Californiagunner

masterPsmith: Excellent pictures ! I have the tools and skill to do this. Can you post the amounts and angles sanded and stoned on these parts ?

Thanks, Wayne

Wayne,
All you want to do is remove the tool marks, burrs, etc. and polish the engagement surfaces. Don't change any existing angles or reduce the size of the engagement surfaces on the hooks. Done properly, this will reduce your pull by half. Take your time and and don't hurry. Check your work often under magnification. Most of the time, the amount of material removed in the process is up to .001" and usually at the most, .002" on the engagement surfaces.


Jim...................

[Californiagunner]

Jim: Thank you sir! That's all I needed. I had done a light job of standing and stoning (brown & white ceramics) and the pull dropped from 5-1/2# to 4-1/2+#. I "chickened out" to go any further until knew what I was doing was right, and then I saw your post. Now I can work (ease) my way done to 3-1/2 to 4#. I'll let you know how it worked out.

Thanks again, Wayne